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Build a fire🔥

Here's an approach that works almost every time to get a nice fire going quickly.

Checklist

  1. Close all wood stove doors except the front.
  2. Adjust the air vent control (the small metal rod in front of the wood stove's front door) to full-open (all the way to the right)
  3. Open the kitchen window just a little bit to allow air to come into the cabin. This will allow the smoke to go out the chimney and not enter the cabin.
  4. Start with two sticks1 from the woodshed on the bottom of the wood stove in parallel, like an equal sign: 🟰. Leave about an inch between the sticks to allow air to get between them.
  5. Light one piece of fatwood2 and place it on the left or right side between the two 🟰 sticks.
    • Make sure it is touching the two pieces of wood.
    • The fatwood can be found to the left of the wood stove, in a bag or metal box.
  6. Place two or three sticks more-or-less perpendicular to the first two sticks, like this: ∥
    • Use shorter sticks, or angle themn slightly, to allow the front to close without hitting the firewood.
    • Ensure one of the sticks is directly above the burning fatwood.
  7. Stack another layer of perpendicular sticks: 🟰.
  8. Close the front door of the woodstove and open the side door about a half-inch
    • this will help the fire start by giving it a little more oxygen.
    • Leave the fire alone for about 10 minutes, unless it goes out before then, so all the sticks have a chance to ignite.
  9. Add hash marks, one for each stick used, to today's square on the wall calendar by the bathroom to keep track of how much firewood was used.
    • This helps for planning how much firewood to make next year.
  10. Once all the sticks are alight, close the side door of the wood stove.
  11. Add more sticks, one or two at a time, as needed to keep the fire burning. Remember to record these additional sticks on the calendar.

Go easy on the fatwood

One, or at most two, pieces of fatwood are all that should be needed to start a fire with dry firewood. Fatwood is very sappy, it burns very hot, and it can gum up the stove pipe if over-used.

  1. stick: a single piece of firewood. ↩

  2. fatwood: resin-impregnated heartwood of a pine tree, used for kindling. See wikipedia. ↩